“Our food comes at great expense to the workers who provide it. ‘The biggest workforce in America can’t put food on the table except when they go to work,’ says Saru Jayaraman, Co- Founder of the Restaurant Opportunities Centers United. Many people in the nascent food movement and in the broader ‘foodie’ set know our farmers’ (and their kids’) names and what their animals eat. We practically worship chefs, and the damage done to land, air, and water by high-tech ag is—correctly—a constant concern. Yet though you can’t be a card-carrying foodie if you don’t know the provenance of your heirloom tomato, you apparently can be one if you don’t know how the members of your wait staff are treated.”
– Mark Bittman (NYTimes Columnist, American food journalist and author)

ROC United co-founder Saru Jayaraman has written a book called Behind the Kitchen Door that describes the lives and conditions of the workers who take care of us when we go out to eat. It’s worth picking up.